“Set Them Up for a Standard”

Brant Gardner

Nephi expounds the reconciliation of Israel to their God at the hands of the Gentiles as indicated in the prophecies of Isaiah - where he reviews Isaiah 49:22 [Thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people: and they shall bring thy sons in [their] arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon [their] shoulders.], a verse he has recently cited.

In this part of his explanatory discourse, Nephi makes explicit the connection between the Isaiah prophecies and themselves. These prophecies are real and pertain to a temporal scattering and gathering, and Nephi tells his brothers "and it meaneth us in the days to come" while also including the rest of the house of Israel. The implicit connection between their families and the prophecy is made unquestionably explicit, and reiterated as a temporal (as well as spiritual) prediction that applies to them as well as to far off Israel.

Multidimensional Commentary on the Book of Mormon

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